Could Carroll be ready by Opening Day? 'Yeah, I'm pushing for it'

SCOTTSDALE, Ariz. -- Fans of the Arizona Diamondbacks, who have had to endure a slew of bad injury news over the past 12 months, can take heart in this update: Outfielder Corbin Carroll appears on track to be ready for Opening Day.

Carroll suffered a broken right hamate bone on Feb. 10 and had surgery the following day, and whether he would be ready for Opening Day seemed to be in question.

And while it's not definitive that he will be on the active roster for the March 26 opener at Dodger Stadium, things are definitely trending in that direction.

Given his intense work ethic and history of healing quickly, Diamondbacks officials were always optimistic that Carroll would find a way to get back in time for Opening Day. Less than 24 hours after his surgery, Carroll was back at camp and working on his throwing and other exercises that did not involve using his right hand.

Carroll then began taking one-armed swings in the batting cage, and like with everything he does, there was a specific purpose behind it.

"I think I'm someone who tends to be a little bit more front-arm dominant [with my swing]," Carroll said. "And so just using it as an opportunity to kind of build up this back arm and work on how I'm entering the zone. I think that that was kind of the goal."

Carroll has recently begun hitting with both hands on the bat.

"Starting to start to build up there," Carroll said. "It's very low intensity, like flips and tee [work]. I mean, it doesn't feel great. Definitely ahead of schedule. I think some other guys that have gone through a hamate injury were happy to see where I am [given] how far I am out of surgery."

So, you're feeling good about being ready for Opening Day, he was asked.

"Yeah, I'm pushing for it," Carroll said.

On Sunday, Carroll was able to get out and take fly balls with his hand feeling good enough to catch the ball.

"He's right up to that line of doing too much," Diamondbacks manager Torey Lovullo said. "He's pushing as hard as he can and as far as he can, and we love that. So we'll continue to get updates from [hand surgeon] Don Sheridan and our medical team about what the next steps are, but yeah, he's doing really, really well."

After making some swing changes heading into last season, Carroll said he didn't make any major changes this past offseason -- and it's hard to tell where his swing is right now, given he had only just begun to face live hitting when he got hurt.

"I feel like the initial starting up of live at-bats and all that, that's kind of your time to start getting dialed in," he said. "I put in a great offseason of work and I think I was in a good spot, but it's just hard to tell until you start battle testing it."